His victory, and o'er his deathless fate
Hang with unutterable revenge that grasps
Eternities of misery, though he felt
Awful capacities, transcendant powers,
Knowledge of good and evil past the scope

Of all created minds, and strength of will
Matched only by his restless agony.

On-on he rushed, like that dread vision borne
O'er Gilboa's midnight hills when shield and spe
Shiver'd and regal crown and sceptre rolled
Down desolate ravines-resolved to bear
All evil worst imagined with a soul
Of quenchless majesty, till o'er all space
Annihilation reigned by chaos' side.
So, fanning the black gulf of flame amid
The horrible profound, his cloud-like wings
Furled at the flaming footstool of his throne.

Triumph, Dominions!" loud the arch-dæmon His eyeballs flashing round; "The Son of Heave "Hath fallen as we fell! Ye Legions! Lift "Your voices till the rifted concave shrieks, "For I have vanquished His peculiar work! "We lost our birthright for Ambition's wreath 'Of martyrdom, and for ourselves alone

ne

spear

on cried,

ven

"And earth no more can sepulchre the dead.

"Who shall arraign the Tempter? faith, untried,

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May be but falsehood; innocence becomes

"Virtue but in victorious trial; proved
"In his proud conquest o'er deceit and guile,
"Man has been worthy of his Maker's trust,
'But, disobedient to well known commands,
"He stands disrobed, unfolding what he is.
"The Almighty held denial in his power
"Of the permission to attest his work,

"But used it not; he might have crowned the man
"With perspicacity and strength beyond

"The daring of the bravest; but he left
"His creature to the workings of his will,
"The illusions of his uncontrolled desires,

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Though oft premonished; so, at once he fell
"And reaped the recompense, and where's the guilt
"Not mine, but his who saw yet boldly sinn'd !"
While Satan thus harangued his rebel band,
Mounted in pyramids the lurid flames

On the black mountains and the vales of hell,
And loud the concentrated shouts went o'er
The radiant battlements of heaven, where stood
Seraph and cherub on their missioned charge.

Save Moloch, with a shudder felt through all

The realm of darkness; but a withering smile
Quivered o'er Satan's dreadful countenance
To witness thus his victory; his thoughts
Sprung on eternity's vast shadowy wings,
And down the viewless future madly rushed,
With the uproar of ocean breaking through
The crashing mountain barriers of the earth.
Conquered and manacled, but unsubdued,
Despairing, yet devoted to his crime,

He grasped at all fantastic shapes-all shades
Of stalwart phantoms, gaunt, and grim, and huge,
And moulded them to giant foes of God.

Though in his Titan heart the poison stirr'd,
Thrilled through each vein, and every iron nerve
Convulsed, and mounted to his burning brain
In boiling eddies, yet his scornful lip

Still pressed the chalice of a vain revenge.
He started from his vision as the fiend
Of Ruin, dark ABADDON shook his plumes,
Broad as the tempest's banner, on the air,
And, roaring like the famished lion round
The wastes of Tadmor or Ipsamboul, cried—

66

My time hath come! no more in this black den "Of sloth, and desolation, and despair,

"Before your shrines and sacrifice their blood
"In rites the stars shall mark with pale affright,
"Mysteries and sorceries and magic charms,

"To win the endless torment of our hell!

My spirit feels the knowledge-fallen man "Will dare beyond the damned-sink his soul "In vengeance and corruption-bare his arm "Against the heavens that bless him, and exeeed, “Once taught, e'en my capacity of hate. "Therefore, exult! exult! and fare ye well!" He said; and momently his pinions shook Their first quick curses o'er the quivering void!

The Spirit of Celestial Love, that stood
Beside the throne of mercy, breathing bliss
Through each ethereal bosom, inly felt

By that mysterious mind, which guides all thought
And unwilled feeling and directs all deeds,
The flight of evil and the dæmon's power;
And, silently commissioned by that mode
Ineffable and yet well known in heaven,
By which the electric will of Deity

Pervades all spirits as light gleams through the
The Angel of Benevolence arose

eye,

Of guilt untouched, shrined in the unchanging skie

-Thou soul of music in a world of hate!
Thou beautiful and holy spring of love

And mildness by the bland and blessed voice
Of martyrs and apostles gently called
Charity, that hides unreckoned sins.

O'er troubled earth thou breathest balmy peace,
Hushing disquiet with a whisper heard

Like greenwood hymns at eve; and men, unawed
By storm and earthquake, to thy soft low voice
Listen like convicts to unhoped reprieve.
Immortal love! though generations glide
In shadowy armies to the spirit-land,
And kingdoms perish, and their glories fade
In fabled legends, and untravelled seas
Lament o'er buried cities, still thy youth,
Thy brightness and thy beauty glow the same.
In living hearts thine empire changes not,
And from the vale of sepulchres thy smile
Wafts spirits purified to glory's home!—

-Forth went the angel to his trial, meek
In power, by soft allurements to o'ercome
The savage wrath of men, and thwart the aim
Of the remorseless fiend loosed on his prey.